The Avenger
by AkatsukiBoi
Summary: He wanted nothing more in his life to avenge his family, until he met a boy that understood his pain. As his new family grew, he understood that it wouldn't last forever. The story of Naruto through Sasuke's eyes.
1. Chapter 1

The Avenger - Prologue

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The sand was soft beneath my fingers. It was raining, a literal torrent of mindless water that Konoha hadn't seen for years. I laughed weakly. It was a fitting scene, for the valley of the founders. Fitting, I knew, for my final farewell from everything that mattered to me, anything that would ever matter to me.

He was unconscious beneath me, my brother and friend, rival and peer. His brightly colored clothes had torn from the titanic battle that altered the landscape. How did he look so peaceful as I hovered over him? Did he not know I could end his life with a single stroke? That all I had to do was pierce his heart with arm? My body tensed with killing rage, and I was angry at him. I was angry that he wasn't strong enough to stop me. I was angry that he was he was strong enough to make me regret, to make me hesitate for even a split second. And I was angry that he looked so much like the damn Naruto I had come to cherish that I didn't lay down the killing blow.

No, I decided in that moment. I would not become remain trapped under him any more. Itachi, the one who had murdered my parents and my clan and had claimed the innocence and trust of my childhood, would know longer control my actions. Though I would not gain the Mangekyou sharingan, the kaleidescope eye that set him on a whole different level then him and I, I would still gain power my own way.

I leaned down, pressing my forehead against his. He was so warm, I thought. Even in the cold when my skin seemed to glaze over with ice, his warm body still permeated that intense heat that had always drawn mine attention.

My voice broke first. "Naruto!" I cried out, even though I knew he was deaf to my words. "You said you would stop me!" I screamed those words over and over again until my voice scratched over with pain like a dying disk. "You...idiot." I was choking back the tears, pounding my fists against his chest in a useless gesture. I must have looked pathetic.

"You idiot...it's all over now. Everything is over..."

I closed my eyes for a few minutes and let the pain wash away from me with the rain. It was supposed to end like this, I knew. In the back of my mind, this scene had become inevitable, a destiny that neither I nor Naruto nor Sakura nor anyone else had the power to change. As I watched him grow in power and skill, and even manage to challenge me on equal footing, I had harbored a secret hope that maybe he would stop me. Maybe he could save me from my ambition. How wrong I was to dream.

Lifting myself up, I said my final words to him and turned my back away. I walked across the lake to whatever dark path my destiny had set me on.

I'm sorry Naruto, sorry that things had turned out like this. But you couldn't change who I was. I won't say that you, or Sakura, or Kakashi never meant anything to me, because you did. I secretly cherished you all like my new family. But some memories are stronger than others. And though we've gone through so much together, I still am whom I am. That's right, I'll chase my one ambition to the ends of the planet, even if I have to sell my soul to a snake like Orochimaru.

I am still the avenger.


	2. Chapter 2

The Avenger - Introduction

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My name is Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. There isn't much to know about me unless you're someone who cared, or at least pretended to care, about the incident that happened so many years ago; the incident where my elder brother Itachi slaughtered my father, mother and the rest of my clan in cold blood. I wasn't there when it happened, wasn't there to witness the shock of those that finally realized there was a being of much greater power above them, that could slay them with ease. They were too proud to beg for their lives, perhaps, too proud too run away and hope to survive. They had stayed, and fought, and died like the fools they were. In retrospect, perhaps that was a good thing. If I had seen such a display of power, I might have given up my own quest to become stronger, strong enough to fulfill my role as the avenger.

Life after passed quickly for me. Being the sole survivor to the Uchiha clan I inherited a large fortune. Even after funeral costs and all the other expenses, there was still an exorbitant amount of money left over, enough for me to live life in luxury as a normal person. But that wasn't my wish. I had no desire to turn back on my heritage, or the promise I had made myself. So it wasn't a surprise to me or anyone else when I enrolled in the ninja academy.

The academy itself was worthless to my growth as a ninja. Everything they taught me, all those texts and beginning-level techniques, I had learned years ago under my father. But it was necessary for me to be able to become a genin, and then to advance myself from there, so I stayed with it. Because of my abilities, I was praised as a genius. Students stared at me in awe and jealousy when I passed. They didn't know I spend every free hour training myself, the pain and sweat and blood I bled to reach higher.

I would wake at the crack of dawn each day, when the sun barely peeped through the mountains. There was breakfast, then a quick shower. After that I would spend two hours training behind the forest of my clan's sprawling house, heading to the academy after, where I listened as Iruka, my teacher, droned on. When the bell rang, I would head back and have dinner, followed by more training. Occasionally, I would head to the lake and stare at the reflection of the setting sun upon the waters. It was one of the few relaxing moments I ever gave myself.

By then, most of the other children and adults had begun to retire to their comfortable houses and have dinner with their families. But I had no family, did I? Sometimes, I would see a young boy walk past me, staring at me. I later learned that boys name was Uzumaki Naruto. I hadn't known much about him then. He was constantly avoided by most of the students, who were warned by their parents to stay away from him. He was a jokester in class, constantly making jokes and laughing at himself. Was he an orphan? I had thought. His performance was the worst in class, and I hadn't thought he could do anything, much less pass the academy examination, but he had, somehow.

And it was to my utmost surprise when that one day, he, along with Haruno Sakura became my new partners.


	3. Chapter 3

Itachi. You have so many names. Who were you?

Enemy. Killer. Murderer. Renegade ninja.

Brother.

You died in the rain, your corpse slumped to the ground, your blood on me.

Is that how you had imagined it? Your death? To die in battle against me? Is that why had spared me? Not to be the avenger as you had wished, but to be your savior. You gave me your techniques that you spent your life building, but what for? What is it that you I can do that you can't, you who were so above me like the heaven is to earth.

I didn't have the chance to say good-bye. Was I living my life as a lie, spending my nights hating you for a crime which you had no choice but to commit?

Did you lie awake cursing the village for the fate it bestowed you as I did you for the fate you bestowed me? No. You were made of stronger stuff than that. If you had only told me, I wonder if I could have forgiven you for taking everyone I ever cared for away…

But it's no longer possible to doubt, or to hold regrets. You let it all wash away in the rain, just like your life-blood. You saved me twice, and I killed you.

Did you want me to be the savior, Itachi?

I am sorry, forgive me who was not as strong as you.

But I cannot.

I can only be the avenger.


End file.
